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Stronger Together
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3232Interview with FJ Campbell, author of “No Number Nine”http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/interview-with-fj-campbell-author-of-no-number-nine/
Thu, 09 May 2019 13:38:33 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2340“Seven minute to go, Billy dived in front of the goal, Pip’s heart hammering, he slid along the AstroTurf, Pip’s eyes glued to the screen, he stretched out his stick, Pip’s mouth opening in a scream, he gave the ball the slightest of touches to send it into the backRead More →

“Seven minute to go, Billy dived in front of the goal, Pip’s heart hammering, he slid along the AstroTurf, Pip’s eyes glued to the screen, he stretched out his stick, Pip’s mouth opening in a scream, he gave the ball the slightest of touches to send it into the back of the goal. There where yells around them, Nadine’s face up close to Pip’s, mirroring her euphoria. Four-two to Germany.” – excerpt from No Number Nine, by Jane Campbell

Recently I had the opportunity to read the book “No Number Nine” by FJ Campbell and I must say I got hooked since the very beggining.

The book tells the story of Pip Mitchell, former hockey player and how she dealt with the aftermath of her sister’s death. Although the book is not per se about hockey, the players and the story develop in the hockey world and you will find hockey players among the main characters. The author is no strange to the hockey world and has written a very entertaining book for all hockey fans and players out there. If you’re a little bit nostalgic about the old times, don’t worry. This book will take you right to Sydney 2000, to the Olympics!

But, do you want to know more about No Number Nine and the brain behind this story? Well, The Hockey Family arranged this interview and FJ Campbell took the time to answer some of our questions. Read on to see what she had to say in her interview below. Enjoy!

Interview with FJ Campbell

THF: How did you come up with the story and the characters of your book?FJ Campbell: I was on a long boring car journey from Munich, where I used to live, to Corsica, where I was going on holiday. I grabbed a pad and pen and started scribbling. The whole story just unfolded right there in that car and I knew I really wanted to write it. The characters were there straight away, too, although I didn’t decide on their names until a while later. I knew I wanted Pip to be young, and insecure, and naive, and that she should find herself living with a hockey family in Germany, although she wanted nothing more to do with hockey at that stage in her life. I found it funny to write about a character who thinks she hates hockey, when I love it so much!

THF: Why did you pick the hockey world to set your characters there?FJ Campbell: Because I know it so well. I’ve been playing hockey on and off my whole life, and have played at school, university (Manchester), at clubs in Canterbury and London (Wimbledon, Battersea Wanderers, Richmond), in Germany (Rot-Weiss Munich) and Zurich (Grasshoppers) – and I’ve stopped roaming now and live in St Albans in the UK. It’s a world that is full of interesting characters, both at the elite level and the ‘social hockey’ level – which is where I belong.

THF: For what I’ve seen in your Instagram account, you’re sports person. But what made you attracted to hockey?FJ Campbell: I played at school but it was when I left school and started playing club hockey that I knew I wanted to play for ever. Hockey clubs are special places – I can tell you from experience that you walk into one and have a load of instant new friends, wherever you are in the world. It’s the same feeling when you watch international matches. The crowds are friendly, relaxed, and I love listening in on their conversations about the game or the players – much like Pip does when she watches her sister play.

THF: In your book you mention the Olympics in Sydney, but what are your best memories about sports and hockey?FJ Campbell: Well, Sydney was a great Olympics to go to, and I also went as a fan to Barcelona and Atlanta and loved those too. Good times. But my favourite memory has to be staying up late into the night to watch the GB women win gold in Rio 2016.

THF: Have you played hockey before? And if so, why did you stop playing?FJ Campbell: I’ve always played except for a break in my thirties and am still playing, although very s-l-o-w-l-y and not as often as before.

THF: In your acknowledgements you mention Helen Richardson-Walsh, Simon Triggs, Philipp Crone, among others. How did you manage to get those great players to help you with your book? And how valuable was their opinion in the process of writing your book?FJ Campbell: So, I know these players or am friends-of-friends with them and they were all fantastically helpful with various aspects of the book. Helen helped me specifically with how everything was organised for the athletes in Sydney – it was her first Olympics. Trigger is a friend from Canterbury days and he’d saved some of his training schedules from the late 1990s and helped me dredge up some old memories. Philipp, who is at Rot-Weiss, and a couple of other people I know who play in Germany, helped me organise my thoughts about the training schedule for the German national team and answered loads of quite random questions. So it was really interesting to talk and email with these people and they gave me some great ideas about what happened in the time running up to the Olympics. I wanted to write a book that was fictional, but that would be accurate enough not to annoy die-hard hockey fans. It has to be realistic, but doesn’t have to stick exactly to the truth. That’s what I think, anyway.

THF: Which are your favourite players, man and woman?FJ Campbell: Not sure about the men at the moment because I’m more into women’s sport. I thought Lily Owsley was amazing in the game I watched on Sunday (GB-USA FIH Pro League) – I could watch her all day.

THF: In your book, Pip’ sister dies because of an accident in the pitch in the middle of a game. Also we have seen lots of real injuries during important tournaments. Do you think hockey players aren’t protected enough? And if so, what do you think it can be done in order to improve this?FJ Campbell: I’m just an author and it’s not my place to comment on this issue. Sorry if that’s a cop out but I have no experience and don’t feel comfortable giving my opinion. What I would say is that I thought long and hard about including such a horrible accident in what is supposed to be a fun, entertaining book, and decided to go for it because these things do happen and it’s important to me to be a writer who reflects reality. I concentrated, not so much on the accident of Pip’s sister Holly, but on the aftermath of it – how Pip dealt with her grief and how she tried to move on and live her life. Hockey helped her do that.

THF: Do you have other books about sports you would like to recommend?FJ Campbell: I love reading books about sport and there are loads of fiction and non-fiction books about at the moment. Sarah Juggins and Richard Stainthorpe’s non-fiction books about the Olympics and World Cups are excellent. On the fiction side of things, there’s Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas (about a swimmer); Gold by Chris Cleave (about cyclists), Beartown by Fredrik Backman (about ice hockey players), Double Fault by Lionel Shriver (tennis players) and The Power of One by Bryce Courteney (boxer). All of these books use sport as a backdrop to their stories – it’s the added drama and pressure that makes these books so enjoyable. Also, when you write about sporty people, you’re writing about their determination and focus and the hours of pain and sweat they put into their sport

THF: Are you going to write a sequel of your book? Maybe about Pip following the steps of her sister?FJ Campbell: I was thinking about writing a sequel, and it would be interesting to see if Pip could make it as far as her sister, or if she wanted to. So watch this space!

So there you have it what better way to finish the interview than to find out that FJ is considering on doing a sequel to her great novel ‘No Number Nine’!

If you haven’t read it yet, what are you waiting for? I can assure you: This book will leave you longing for a sequel.
You can find FJ Campbell on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads and in her website http://www.fjcampbell.net

]]>Osaka Hockey Pro Tour Ltd Protobow Reviewhttp://www.thehockeyfamily.com/osaka-hockey-pro-tour-ltd-protobow-review/
Tue, 30 Apr 2019 12:55:16 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2337Here is a link to the video review for the Osaka stick. If you liked this review please support on Patreon at www.patreon.com/bossfhockey and check out the other reviews here.Read More →

]]>Hong Kong International Hockey Tournamenthttp://www.thehockeyfamily.com/hong-kong-international-hockey-tournament/
Thu, 28 Mar 2019 03:21:26 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2305Hong Kong International Hockey Tournament The King’s Park Hockey Ground is located in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong. It’s not on the island itself, but on the bit of land adjacent to the Chinese mainland. It is also the venue for the Hong Kong International Hockey Tournament, which isRead More →

The King’s Park Hockey Ground is located in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong. It’s not on the island itself, but on the bit of land adjacent to the Chinese mainland. It is also the venue for the Hong Kong International Hockey Tournament, which is an annual event that has been hosted here for over a decade. Men’s and women’s teams from around Asia have been invited and use it as a way to testing themselves against other similarly ranked sides.

Whilst I’m in Hong Kong, I speak to Ernest Li, who is the Secretary General of the Hong Kong Hockey Association (HKHA). He gives me a little background to what I am watching and a history to this tournament. He explains that this is actually an amalgamation of two separate events; the 10th Men’s Quadrangle and 5th Women’s Invitational.

The men’s event started 13 years ago and when opportunities started to arise, the HKHA began putting on a women’s tournament, on alternate years to the men. The Quadrangle was originally set up in preparation for the 2006 Asian Games. Ernest explains that there is a concerted effort to build up international playing experience for the national teams with the aim to consistently qualify for the Asian Games and to be able to compete against the better teams. The first tournament was paid for through a successful application to the Olympic Solidarity Fund, which helps to promote Olympic sports amongst participating nations. Since then they have received support and funding from the Hong Kong Government, who is actually trying to promote team sports in the territory. Over the years the events have grown and developed and this Is the first year that the HKHA has been able to host both the men’s and women’s events at the same time.

Whilst we are talking, Ernest brings up the HKHA umpires that are involved over the weekend. There are a number of umpires, both male and female, that have been trained through the hockey association and have recently gained FIH approval. He gives me some name drops here; Matthew Chor and Ravi Sethi have both been promoted to the FIH International Panel in the last two years. Impressively, they are still in their twenties. Rinky See and another umpire named Debbie, represent the female umpires at the tournament, who are also of the same standard as the men. Debbie was appointed to an African youth hockey five’s tournament and this was the first time that a Hong Kong official has gone to an African event. Ernest makes the point that hockey is more than just two teams playing and that the umpiring system has to progress alongside the standard of the league. He also tells me about the exchange programme that they are a part of. Alongside Malaysia, Singapore and Japan they exchange technical officials and umpires for local tournaments and league matches in order to give those people who are dedicated more opportunities to grow and develop and to demonstrate their abilities.

So, this is an invitational event for international teams, but due to Singapore not being able to attend, two local sides have been invited to participate in order to make a better show of things. In the women’s tournament Shenzhen has come across from the Chinese mainland; the city itself is just across the border and is fairly easy for the team to travel over. The President’s Select XI, is a type of representative side to help make up the numbers of the quadrangle and includes a number of Hong Kong under 21 players. The results of these sides will count towards the overall standings of the tournament, but will not go towards the FIH rankings of the international sides.

The tournament is being run from the 21st to the 24th of March. I’ve turned up on Day 3 and the first game is a 12.30 push back between the hosts Hong Kong and Thailand in the women’s category. The Thai’s definitely show more attacking purpose in the first quarter, but the home nation put in some decent defensive work, operating a half court press and at times a quarter court press in order to keep the visitors at bay. Hong Kong though has been struggling to retain possession, and therefore, find it hard to mount attacks at the opposition goal. I can’t think of a ball fired competitively at the Thai keeper until the fourteenth minute, when the home team drag one wide. Thailand go immediately up the other end and get a perfect opportunity, an open goal falling to their number 17. She scuffs the shot, but wins a penalty corner, from which they score the first of the match, with just 35 seconds of the quarter remaining.

In the second quarter Hong Kong get forward with a bit more ease and have a decent chance, when a 50/50 near the top of the circle bounces backwards off the Thai keeper. The visitors have most of the possession and look a bit more precise in their passing, stroking the ball about, gently probing for space. With two minutes of the half remaining, Thailand win the ball high up the pitch and with a lovely sweeping move, eliminate two Hong Kongese defenders and find an advancing midfielder with a pass to the back post to make the score 2 – 0.

There are no further goals in the third quarter, a stalemate, if you will. Thailand has still shown themselves to be the better team here, making better use of the height, depth and width of the pitch, but haven’t created clear enough opportunities to score.

Within minutes of the re-start of the final period, Thailand’s right winger (number 17) finds herself in loads of space, after moving inside to receive the ball. She makes the trap and sends a reverse stick strike past the keeper’s left foot to extend the lead to three goals. Two minutes later, she’s looking to add another to her tally, driving into the circle with the ball, but forces a good save from the goalie. She’s having a decent game today…

In the seventh minute there is a bit of a ping pong match inside the Hong Kong circle, which culminates with the goal keeper actually stepping over the ball, as it moves towards her, allowing for an easy tap in at the far post; Thailand 4 – 0 Hong Kong. With four minutes remaining Thailand make use of some free space in midfield and make their way to the Hong Kong left hand post, sending the ball across the face of the goal for another tap in. Soon afterwards, Hong Kong have a chance to get one back, with their number 14 finding space on the right hand side, but sends the ball over the bar. The game ends in a 5 – 0 win for Thailand.

The second match of the day sees Shenzhen, who play all in red, take on Chinese Taipei, in their white kit, with a black trim. Shenzhen is the city described above, that is based just across the border in mainland China and have travelled across for this tournament to help the organisers to make up four teams. Their results count towards the tournament standings, but won’t count towards the world ranking positions of the international teams. Chinese Taipei is the name used by Taiwan when the country competes in international sport, as agreed with the Chinese, as part of the Nagoya Resolution. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the official government of the Chinese mainland. The Government of Taiwan is officially called the Republic of China (ROC). During the Chinese Civil War, the Communists took control of the mainland and the ROC fled to the island of Taiwan. The PRC still claims sovereignty over Taiwan and describes the island as a province, although the local government disagrees. The name of the sports team takes it’s name from the regional capital city and is intentionally ambiguous in it’s political statement.

I have been impressed with Shenzhen. There is a hussle about them when going forward and they get a few shots off in the first quarter. They in fact get the first short corner of the game in the twelfth minute, but it’s spilt and the game moves on. Chinese Taipei aren’t shy though, and they are arguably hard done by when they aren’t awarded a penalty stroke in the first fifteen minutes. Shenzhen get another short corner with a little over two minutes remaining. The trap at the top of the circle this time is good and the ball is played back towards the injector, but she can’t quite convert, as she swings the stick over the top of the ball at the near post. The game is becoming an end to end competition and Chinese Taipei nearly score themselves, but the forward can’t quite stretch far enough to make contact. With 17 seconds remaining, Shenzhen get a third short corner. A drag flick sees the keeper paw the ball away and that’s the end of a fun and entertaining first quarter.

Shenzhen keep winning the short corners in the second quarter, but has a goal disallowed from one of them for a lifted strike, as the first hit cannons in off the crossbar. Shenzhen are coming forward in numbers and Chinese Taipei seem to be struggling to track opposition forwards every single time. To make matters worse Taipei seem to struggle to retain possession when going forward. They are playing a lot more directly then Shenzhen, looking for the long balls to run onto. With a little over two and half minutes left, Shenzhen take the lead with a straight shot from the top of the circle at a short corner. This is how the first half finishes, with the Chinese club leading the Chinese Taipei international team.

We are several minutes into the second half now and I’m losing count of the amount of short corners Shenzhen have had. Their conversion rate is pretty poor though and still haven’t managed to advance their scoreline. They are really moving the ball around nicely, interchanging well, using possession to move neatly up the pitch. About half way through the third quarter I start to notice that Chinese Taipei aren’t pressing particularly well, at least not as well as they were earlier on. I sense that there is a bit of fatigue setting in. Shenzhen mount a few attacks, but can’t add to their tally. 1 – 0 at the end of the third quarter.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Shenzhen try a variation on their short corner routine. The ball is slipped inside from the top of the circle and is deflected into the corner. Two goals to the good for the club team. They try the same thing again a couple of minutes later, forcing a left deflector pad save from the keeper. Towards the end of the game, Chinese Taipei seem to be just going through the motions. I notice that they have dropped quite far back and can only manage a quarter court press, as Shenzhen have the ball back towards the half way line. The game finishes Shenzhen 2 – 0 Chinese Taipei.

In the third match of the day, we are given a taste of the men’s tournament; Hong Kong vs. Thailand again, in a replay of the earlier women’s fixture. Hong Kong are in red, with a white chest, against Thailand in white, with blue sleeves. Thailand test the host’s keeper early, with a forward spinning the full back and sending a shot goal wards, before a rebound at the far post is sent at some pace, but strays wide of the target. 11 minutes in to the quarter, Shenzhen get the first short corner. It is sent to the player outside and to the left of the circle for a trick routine, which doesn’t quite come off, but looked interesting. The first 15 minutes has been played at a decent tempo, but the score remains 0 – 0 at the first break.

Shortly into the second quarter, Thailand are certain that they should have had a short corner for a foot foul. The umpire initially gave a free hit outside the circle, but after talking to the players decides to give a short corner. It’s promptly missed. There’s quite a fast paced tempo to the game with some good passing moves from both teams, but lacking in the final product. With two minutes of the half remaining we see the first green card of the day, for something that was, apparently, off the ball. A player for Hong Kong is told to sit down for the remainder of the period. As the teams go in for a cup of tea and a shake down from the coaches, it remains even and goalless.

The second half starts in moist conditions as the rain becomes slightly heavier. Hong Kong seem to be enjoying the conditions bit more, with some good possessions and as I’m writing this sentence they bury an open stick shot into the far post to open the scoring. 1 – 0 to the host nation. The captain of Thailand is taking the umpire to task over his viewpoint on something leading up to the goal and the game is delayed as the two men have it out. There is then some sort of stoppage, with the teams getting into a huddle as the two umpires have a chat. The goal seems to stand and the teams get ready again. The Thai captain is now chatting to some technical officials by the sideline and the players have been standing in the rain for a while now. The Hong Kong team are shouted over to their bench, by the coach, for a chat, Thailand have a huddle on the pitch and the umpires confer again. This time I think that we can begin and we do, but by Jove, what a cuffufle. The rain is starting to come down a bit heavier now and I’m quite pleased with having a roof over the main stand. The Hong Kong team are having more of the attacking opportunities at this point. Number 6 for the hosts is sent to the naughty chair for two minutes, for not retreating five metres, with only a few seconds remaining off the third period, which ends with just the one goal so far.

The rain is still coming down in the fourth quarter and Thailand start to mount some more attacks. The two teams seem to be taking turns to have a go at each other, with varying amounts of success. Very few clear cut chances are being carved out though, with a number of crashed balls being put into the respective circles. Six minutes into the final quarter, Hong Kong breakaway with a counter attack. Two forwards find themselves behind defensive lines and running at the goal. The ball carrier slips the ball right to his colleague, who is then wiped out by the Thai keeper; Penalty Stroke! With an open stick push to the keeper’s left the attacker is able to make it 2 – 0. Thailand come straight back, with a shot taken from the right side of the circle, the ball takes a deflection, loops up towards the goal and a Thai attacker seizes on the opportunity to put it over the line on the volley. 2 – 1. There’s some more excitement, soon after, with the Hong Kong keeper in action again, deflecting the ball away, with his free hand. This is the most action that he’s had in a while. With six minutes remaining, Hong Kong get another sin bin. Discipline seems to be a problem here, but to be fair both teams have been getting stuck in, and the keeper has to make another save from a Thai attack down the left. Four and a half minutes remain and this time Thailand are given a sin bin, the players are up for this one. Hong Kong are really starting to take advantage of Thailand’s high back line and are playing a lot of direct balls on the counter attack. They edge forward themselves and get caught on the counter by the Thai’s. An attack down the left commits the Hong Kong keeper, it’s slipped passed him for an open goal for two forwards. They both miss it, and with only 13 seconds left to play that pretty much represents the final say on matters. The game ends 2 – 1.

After four days of matches, we have a final table of standings and a number of individual awards to make mention of…

]]>Grow the sport… but how?http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/grow-the-sport-but-how/
Sun, 24 Mar 2019 19:29:28 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2296This year we saw the emergence of a new tournament, one that was set to replace the cherished Champions Trophy. When I heard about it, I had my doubts (mostly because I loved the Champions Trophy and I know many players did too) and although I want it to comeRead More →

This year we saw the emergence of a new tournament, one that was set to replace the cherished Champions Trophy.

When I heard about it, I had my doubts (mostly because I loved the Champions Trophy and I know many players did too) and although I want it to come back someday, now that I’ve seen how exciting Pro League is, I’m happy with it and I’m not missing Champions Trophy… at least for now.

Of course it has its pros and cons, the most difficult thing for the teams is the money they have to spend to travel all around the world in order to play (let’s remember Pakistan was kicked out of the League because they didn’t have the money for the first round of the tournament). We can also note how tiresome it must be for the players travel from west to east and north to south of the world and being away from home for so long in order to play.

But players say there’s nothing like to play at home and they enjoy it a lot and that’s great.

As a fan, I remember the last time las Leonas played in the country before the Pro League was in December, 2015 in the province of Rosario.

The possibility to watch our Leonas in hockey tournaments at home are delightful and always welcome. My favourite? Argentina vs Netherlands. “El clásico” as we call it here is always exciting and unforgettable.

So thank you FIH for giving me and many Argentine long time fans the possibility to witness “El Clásico” and many other matches on home soil. I also think a great feature of Pro League is the addition of penalty shootouts every time the game ends in a tie. It’s exciting and a great opportunity to watch the amazing skills from many players.

So although I had my doubts, Pro League got me hooked. BUT, how about non hockey fans? Is this new tournament working when it comes to attract new fans? Because for people that are already enlightened by the beauty of field hockey, Pro League is great. Kudos to the Federation for that. But I ask again: is this new tournament doing enough to attract new fans? And if it’s not, what can FIH do to reach that goal?

The Pro League is great… but is FIH doing enough to grow the sport?

Start at the basics

Well, personally I haven’t heard anyone say to me: “hey have you seen that new tournament on ESPN? The new one… I think is Pro League or something. Is so great! I’m a hockey fan now!”

And correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think any of you had that experience as well.

The comparison of our beloved sport to the King Sport, namely football, is always unfair and not so welcome by many. And believe me, I don’t like it either. But if we want our fan base to grow we have to look at football.

And how are fans created in football? Well, it all starts when one of our loved ones, takes us when we are kids to a club match or sits with us every weekend to watch his/her team. It’s like a ritual, somethings precious and untouchable, something that creates in your brain a pattern that’s unbreakable and you come to love. That’s why many would prefer to see their club become the next champion instead of their national team. Club owners know that pretty well and that’s why they promote their club giving their fans the latest fan experience and by being very active through social media.

So what is hockey doing at a club level? It’s great that hockey players take their sons and daughters to their clubs, but is that enough? What are club owners doing and, more importantly, what is FIH doing to work at the basics, at a club level?

We don’t even know the names of the clubs in hockey countries, we don’t know which ones are the best ones out there and where the top players play. For example, have you ever heard of Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires (where Carla Rebecchi or Julieta Jankunas play) or GEBA (where many Leonas play and Luciana Aymar used to play)? Those are the two greatest clubs in Argentina and I bet people in Germany, Netherlands or any other country in Europe haven’t even heard about them.

But why is it important?

Well, what do you think when you hear the names Champions League or Copa Libertadores? Those are two of the most prestigious tournaments in football. Shouldn’t be nice to have something similar in hockey?

Rivalries are something that drives fans all over the world. Messi vs Ronaldo, Barcelona vs Real Madrid… Those are two of the most famous rivalries out there and even people who don’t like football know about. We can have that in hockey, but again: it all goes back to the basics.

FIH did something great with the Pro League, but is wasting a lot of potential at a club level. They shouldn’t be caring about changing the rules of the sport to make it more enticing and attractive to people. Hockey fans are loyal, one of the most loyal fan bases out there so we won’t go anywhere but is time for the federation to step up and start working at a club level. If they do it right they’ll collect the fruits of their work. If they do it I’m confident we won’t need to worry about hockey getting kicked out of the Olympics and stuff like that again.

Hockey can be prolific, can be one of the most important sports out there. We have seen it at the Olympics, we have seen how attractive it can be for people. But all that potential, all that advertising it gets at the Olympics goes to waste and becomes nothing during those 4 years of an Olympic cycle.

We have seen the lack of good short corner shooters in women’s hockey and even in men’s hockey. That play should be trained and trained and trained at a club level but for some reason is not happening that way. If clubs had competitions at an international level I’m sure they would train that play much more they do it nowadays, in the same way they do it in their national teams. And so when the players get called for national duty they could be three or more reliable shooters, instead of just one or two. Just imagine having three or four Martjee Paumens instead of just one in your national team. How amazing that would be?

And I’m just naming shooters.

Yes, hockey has a lot of potential but it is time to stop being a snob and open our minds. Hockey will never be football (and personally, I don’t want it to become it) but it can be bigger and better. The potential is there, they just have to take advantage of it.

]]>Gryphon Tour G18 Samurai Reviewhttp://www.thehockeyfamily.com/gryphon-tour-g18-samurai-review/
Tue, 19 Mar 2019 12:44:06 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2286Here is a link to my video review of the Gryphon Tour G18 Samurai If you liked this review please support on Patreon at www.patreon.com/bossfhockey and check out the other reviews here.Read More →

]]>IMHA Masters World Cup; Hong Kong 2019http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/imha-masters-world-cup-hong-kong-2019/
Thu, 21 Feb 2019 04:03:50 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2258I’ve come to Hong Kong to watch the IMHA Masters World Cup. There are three venues spread across the territory with games being played on four consecutive days. This is an indoor event, and has been using two state run facilities at Shek Kip Park Sports Club, in Kowloon andRead More →

I’ve come to Hong Kong to watch the IMHA Masters World Cup. There are three venues spread across the territory with games being played on four consecutive days. This is an indoor event, and has been using two state run facilities at Shek Kip Park Sports Club, in Kowloon and Island East Sports Centre. I have turned up on day three (Saturday 16th February) at Hong Kong Football Club, which is a private members, multi sports venue in Happy Valley, on the island. The HKFC Hockey section itself has some of the strongest hockey teams in the region and have provided free, temporary, membership to all participants in the tournament, so that they can make use of the fantastic range of sports and leisure facilities here, including the gym and swimming pool.

There are four categories; Men’s Over 40’s, Men’s Over 50’s, Ladies Over 40’s and Ladies Over 45’s:

Men's Over 40's

Men's Over 50's

Australia

Australia

Canada (O45's)

Canada

England

England

Germany

England O55's

Hong Kong

Germany

Hong Kong Dragons

Itally

USA

Switzerland

USA

Ladies Over 40's

Ladies Over 45's

Australia

Australia

Germany

Australia O50's

Hong Kong

Canada

Netherlands

Germany

USA

Germany O50's

Hong Kong Dragons

The best attended game of the day is Australia vs. Hong Kong in the Men’s Over 40’s division. There are a lot of families in attendance watching the game, quite a few kids enjoying seeing the older lads playing including a few sons and daughters in attendance, as well as some of the HKFC junior players dotting around in their club colours. Just before half time, Hong Kong take a 1 – 0 lead, from a penalty corner. Goals are a bit more frequent in the second half and with a little over five minutes remaining the score is now level at 2 – 2, with Australia levelling the game from a rebound, after hitting the post. With 30 seconds left, Hong Kong get a penalty corner again, but fail to convert this time. The game goes to a shootout. Hong Kong win 3 – 1 in the shuffles, with the keeper putting on a good display. He gets a hug from his reserve and a friendly slap on the back from a team mate.

There is a wealth of talent and knowledge at this tournament. Over this weekend I will meet former full internationals and national team coaches from Australia, Canada, Barbados, USA, Germany and Switzerland. I’ve even met an Aussie umpire who’s officiated at world cup finals and Olympic games. There are also a number of female team managers supporting male teams, which sets a nice change of pace from the mainstream game.

One of the characters that I’ve met in my time here is Dave Cox, who is one of the attacking players for Canada. He is also the Head Coach for the Barbados National Men’s A Team and a former international himself. He is a dual national, having held a Canadian passport for fifteen years. Having settled down with a Canadian wife he feels that his adoptive country is now his home. He’s done well with the Barbadians, though, moving them up from a world ranking in the forties somewhere, to 28th in the FIH Indoor rankings. He explains to me that Barbados, playing in the Pan American competitions, are coming up against economically stronger countries, with larger populations, such as the USA and Argentina and that this is the main challenge that his teams are facing. He is also struggling to compete for funding against sports such as cricket and football, which are more popular in the Caribbean region. He is positive though and seems proud about the developments his teams have made over the years. Dave tells me that the Canadian outdoor programme is getting some good funding from the government. The indoor programme is based in Toronto and is mainly self funded, but are bringing through a lot of youth team players, so the future seems bright.

Ashley Grumitt, who won the English National 1st Division with Bournville is here with the Australian O50’s. He remarks that at events like this it’s a fantastic opportunity to continue his friendly rivalries with the old English boys that he was playing against in the 1980’s. He praises the facilities and the perks that HKFC have provided, but this sort of fun competitiveness is part of the reason why he comes along Masters events. He also likes to set an example to the younger members of his family, showing them that we can keep active to a high standard, no matter what age you are.

Ken Pereira, also of Canada, is a two time Olympian, having gone to the Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008 Games. He has also won two Pan American gold medals and competed at World Cups, including the 2003 indoor event in Leipzig, as well as the 2012 World Series Hockey League, which is the precursor to the Indian Hockey League. He puts his memories of the Olympics as the highlight of his career. The moments that come with participating in a great multi sports festival is something that seems to be appreciated by him. The idea of an amateur athlete sitting down to breakfast next to LeBron James and Kobe Bryant of the USA Basketball team is something that seems special. He says that there is a similar atmosphere here at the Masters World Cup in Hong Kong. There is a relaxed party ethos and an enjoyment of being involved in sport, but also with a will to win and a stout competitiveness amongst the participants.

I’m back again on day four for the finals. The Germans have been dominating matches so far in the tournament and this is shown, in a literal sense – in the Gold Medal Match for the Ladies O45 category, we see Germany O45’s playing against Germany O50’s. The younger team is a bit more fluid up front at the start, but the O50’s get the first penalty corner. The goalkeeper breaks early, sending one of the defenders to the half way line, although the forwards can’t capitalise on the advantage. The O45’s keep coming forward and take a 1 – 0 lead at half time. The O50’s equalise within two minutes of the restart, making it 1 – 1. Six minutes later the number 27 for the O45’s beats two defenders and plays the ball to the left for her team mate to score past a prone goalkeeper to make it 2 – 1. The lead is extended further from a penalty corner. With around 90 seconds remaining the O50’s pull one back from a penalty corner of their own. The excitement is tangible as this derby match comes to a close, but the older team can’t find an equaliser and the match finishes Germany O45 3 – 2 Germany O50. I’ve spoken to a couple members of the German coaching staff and they seem to be fairly confident of success for their teams across all of the categories and it’s proving to be well founded. The Germans put this down to the level of commitment towards indoor hockey back home, with serious leagues set up and players taking up the small sided version of the game from an early age. The understanding of what to do, how to do it and when seems to be of a much more advanced level to many of the other nations.

The Men’s O40’s Gold Medal Match sees Germany playing the hosts Hong Kong. There’s a huge attendance from the locals, who are mingling in with the players of the teams from elsewhere in the tournament. It’s standing room only for many people and the corners of the spectator gallery are rammed, especially where the makeshift bar is situated, with plenty of beer flowing. The Germans continue to show their dominance over indoor hockey, by scoring in the first, fourth and seventh minutes to take a three goal lead. On 10 minutes, Hong Kong are awarded a penalty stroke and a chance to get one back, but the player puts it wide of the left hand post. The Germans, with perfect efficiency keep on scoring and the first half finishes 6 – 0. The Central Europeans keep possession of the ball very well, their qualities on the ball are finer, the speed of thought is quicker and their greater technique means that they are able to extend their lead in the second half. It’s a joy to watch. Their short corner routines look particularly effective. The biggest cheer of the match, though, happens seven minutes into the second half when Hong Kong pull one back. The Germans reply quickly to make the score 8 – 1 in their favour, from a penalty corner and this is how the game ends. It’s been a clean sweep for the Germans, winning all four categories, across the men’s and women’s events, as well as winning silver in one of the finals as well.

Glenn Paton is the President of the International Masters Hockey Association (IMHA), which is the organising committee of the competition. He is nice enough to sit down with me and have a chat about the history of Masters Hockey and what is happening in the future. He tells me that events of this kind started primarily with the Pacific Rim nations, putting on events around that region. It developed slowly to include teams from nations of other continents and the first FIH recognised Masters World Cup was hosted in Canterbury, England in 2012 and it continued to grow. Glenn hails from Scotland and it turns out that he actually played for an earlier incarnation of the club that I played for – the Waverley part of Waverley Inveresk Trinity Hockey Club – and won the Scottish Championship in his heyday. Interestingly he thinks that we might only see the 11 a side version of the game in Masters Hockey in years to come, with the International Olympic Committee thinking about using the smaller version of the game as a cost saving mechanism. He seems keen to talk about, not only the development of these sorts of events up to now, but also what is happening in the future. The IMHA and the World Grand Masters organisations will be merging together, as per the FIH plan from five years ago and will have the overarching reach of responsibilities for all age groups up to Over 75 categories, which will begin from the 2nd of August. The idea of this being that they will be able to sanction all events and work with National Governing Bodies in order to promote the sport for veteran players and help these events to grow further.

There seems to be quite a sense of camaraderie between the different teams and players. Off the pitch people are mixing together well. Quite a few different people have told me how enjoyable it is to play with their old mates from the height of their playing days and to come across other familiar faces from the wider hockey community. Events like this Masters World Cup seems to be a fantastic opportunity to bring people together, from a wide range of countries and continents. I managed to have a chat with Karen Seaman of Australia, after she had won the bronze medal in the Ladies O45 tournament. She is formerly an assistant coach and team manager within the Australian national set up. She has also played at the regular Indoor World Cup at Leipzig 2003, but took a break from playing as she went into coaching. She was talked into picking up her stick again for this competition. Participating in this masters tournament seems to have reinvigorated Karen’s passion for playing again and she puts this down to the atmosphere created by the coaching staff and team mates. Her team mate Lisa Roach, who was an Olympic level umpire, as well as a former Australian international is also with us. She makes the point that the games are still very competitive and combative, but that is left out on the pitch at the final whistle and she reiterates her friend’s point of the players wanting to have a good time together afterwards. Karen tells me that if the team can carry on this positive ethos in further events and continue to get along together then she’ll want to continue playing for as long as possible. She speaks with real enthusiasm and she gets joyfully emotional about talking about her pride for playing for her country again – her playing career seems to have been truly reinvigorated by Masters Hockey.

]]>Hockey in Hong Konghttp://www.thehockeyfamily.com/hockey-in-hong-kong/
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 11:12:59 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2233Hong Kong is a Chinese territory, just off the South Western border. It includes the island, which everybody will think of, but also a part of the mainland. So, I’ve been living in Shenzhen which is the neighbouring city in China. There isn’t much hockey where I am, but weRead More →

Hong Kong is a Chinese territory, just off the South Western border. It includes the island, which everybody will think of, but also a part of the mainland. So, I’ve been living in Shenzhen which is the neighbouring city in China. There isn’t much hockey where I am, but we are really close to Hong Kong, where there appears to be a fairly strong infrastructure. I’ve arranged to watch a number of games across the top two tiers of the Hong Kong Hockey Association (HKHC) league structure.

The journey from my home to the rather posh multi sports facilities at Hong Kong Football Club should normally take around three hours of travelling, but today took a bit longer as I realised that I had forgotten my passport when I was at the border. As soon as I arrive in the former British Colony, it becomes very clear how vibrant and diverse a region it is. There seems to be a broad range of ethnicities and religions mingling easily and freely, something not seen as much from what I’ve seen in Shenzhen. The official langue here is Cantonese (different from the Mandarin spoken in most of China), but many people also speak English, a remnant of British rule. Street signs are bilingual and even many district and road names are quite Anglo-Saxon – the main thoroughfare running through Kowloon, for example, is Nathan Road.

I turn up early for a Women’s Premier League game on the Saturday at a private members multi sports facility, called Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC). The match itself is between the HKFC B and Dutch Hokey Club A teams. As I arrive at the pitch a second tier match between HKFC D and Rhino (a team made up completely of ethnically Asian players, instead of the more usual mix of ex-pats with a few local players) is about to start. Talking to a few of the players between matches there seems to be a number of people working in technology, accountancy, and information technology. The pitch itself is situated within a massive sports complex. A racetrack – which I believe is run by the Hong Kong Jockey’s club (according to Wikipedia, the territory’s largest taxpayer) – circles the perimeter of the venue. Behind the fence and off to the left hand side is a fairly well attended set of rugby matches in progress and to the right of that are two 11 a side football pitches with plenty of players milling around there.

The spectators for the hockey seems to be generally friends and family of the players, with a few club mates, perhaps. As the HKFC B vs. Dutch A game starts, some members of the Rhino team from the earlier match has stayed behind for the first quarter. I also hear one of the kids who are playing n the top right hand corner of the stand shout, ’Go on, Mummy!’

HKFC take a 1 – 0 lead in the first quarter with a ball moved in from the left hand side and an attacking player finding enough space to bobble it in. Both teams seem to be quite well organised. Defenders are not allowing the opposing forward lines much of what the want with quite a few passes inside, or towards the circle being cut out and the game has been a bit more even that I thought it would be, given the two teams respective positions in the league. The game remains 1 – 0 until the end. HKFC has had a few more chances to score, including a glorious one at the back post, but can’t convert. It was a decent standard, especially with the defensive side of things.

Liesbeth van der Zee, the captain of the Dutch HC spends a bit of time either side of the match talking to me. Originally from the Netherlands (not surprisingly given her name and club), she has been in Hong Kong for three years. She came over for a four month internship and enjoyed it so much she got herself a job at an accountancy firm. The Dutch are one of the smaller clubs in Hong Kong these days, but Liesbeth tells me that it is one of the oldest clubs in the territory, helping to set up the original league. She seems moderately proud of the club’s heritage and culture of friendliness. They don’t have their own club house at this point, but set themselves up as a club that although looks to constantly improve, also wants to be a fun and social set up as well. One of the biggest issues she finds in developing the club is the transient nature of economic migration. Teams within the Dutch club, she tells me, can change dramatically within one or two seasons, thus making consistency and team cohesion harder to come by. The common language within the club is English, due to the varying nationalities. The first team is made up of predominately European looking faces, but she tells me that there are more asian players coming through the reserve teams and that there is a healthy mix at the club.

Before the game, I also managed to have a chat with Lynsey Edgar, who is the HKFC women’s hockey captain and is a committee member of the Hong Kong Hockey Association Women’s section. She is a Scottish ex-pat who moved over to Hong Kong seven years ago and works as a finance lawyer. Originally from Glasgow, she studied in Edinburgh, moving to Hong Kong for six months and much like Liesbeth, enjoyed it so much has never looked back. Lynsey tells me that two of her sports teachers at school were former Scotland and Great Britain internationals Wendy Justice (née Fraser), an Olympic bronze medal winner in 1992, and Rona Simpson.

HKFC is one of, if the biggest hockey club on the island, with eight men’s and eight women’s teams. Their ladies A team is currently top of the Premier League and are normally favourites for the title, with the B team in third place. Lynsey tells me that the A team recently beat the B’s in the Women’s Cup Final 1 – 0. The facilities are obviously a huge draw for the top players, with HKFC being the only club with their own facilities and the set up is lovely. This will inevitably draw players in order to gain a greater pool and more income, as well as those of a high standard.

Lynsey feels that there is a gulf in talent between the Premier Division and the 1st Division, which acts as the second tier of Hong Kong Hockey. Even within the Premier division she thinks that there is a significant gap between the top and bottom of the table, but there has been significant development recently. This year the Hockey Association enlarged the top flight from six to eight teams in order to give lower ranked teams more exposure and to generally improve the standard of hockey, which she thinks is working as the two teams who have come up have put themselves in a strong chance of survival.

Generally, the standard does appear to be fairly decent. I find out that the captain of the HKFC Men’s 2 XI is former Hong Kong national team player, Chris Marshall. Having been born in Hong Kong, to British parents, he had the opportunity to play international hockey for the former colony and went to the Asian Games in 1998, 2002 and 2006. Alongside the goalkeeper of that same squad, Vincent Cheung, they are still playing together within the league structure, which shows the experience and strength in depth that the club can wield. Chris actually puts Cheung down as a trendsetter in goalkeeping. When playing Pakistan in the 1998 Asian Games he started rushing Sohail Abbas at short corners as an impromptu tactic to deal with his drag flicks, with some degree of success, preventing further goals being conceded.

The game has historically been a sport dominated by ex-pats and foreigners, Lynsey explains that is changing. There are two teams in the Womens Premier division which are predominately made up locally sourced players (Coyotez Hockey and Kowloon Cricket Club) and there are many more Asian players to be found amongst the other clubs, in the lower divisions. This opinion is backed up by other people that I have spoken to. She has also noticed more local players taking the sport up at university level. A barrier to participation though, seems to be a lack of school hockey, meaning that if younger players want to take up the sport then they may have to go to one of the clubs with an established youth set up, rather be introduced to the game at school like a kid might be in Europe, or other parts of Asia. The HKHA has recently looked to change this and has sent their Womens Head coach Arif Ali (who also plays for the HKFC men’s teams) into schools to develop the sport further. There is also a HKHA development team within the league structure, called Bauhnia Youth (Bauhnia being the national flower of Hong Kong), in order to give new players game time and to further their development. This is helping to make the sport more popular with the locals and reduce the dependancy on the ex-pats. A common observation from people that I talk to, is that their has been a reduction of foreigners coming to Hong Kong since the British administration left, meaning that if the league structure and Association is to continue to grow then local Hong Kong and Chinese populations will need to start to take on more responsibilities and gain more experiences within the sport.

So, I’m back again on the Sunday, for a men’s 1st Division (second tier) game between the Hong Kong Football Club C and Hong Kong Cricket Club A teams. It’s a moderately high tempo affair from the off and as it goes on, one or two meaty tackles are put into the game. Today, as there was yesterday, there is a broad range of activities happening around us at this rather plush sports facility. Women’s rugby is happening to the left and some junior rugby occurring on the football fields. Sunday joggers are lapping us around the racetrack that circles the venue. In the fifteenth minute of the second half the deadlock has finally been broken. HKCC work the ball well up their right hand side commit the HKFC keeper towards the near post and score at the far post. Four minutes later we have an equaliser and now HKFC are on a roll, scoring their second goal in quick succession, with an attack down the right. This is how the game ends, with a 2 – 1 for the hosts.

The game of the day has to be between HKFC A and Singh Sabha Sports Club A (SSSC, a team of what seems to be predominately Punjabi ex-pats). This is a fairly high standard fixture in the Hong Kong Men’s Premier League. It’s an end to end match, with quick movements of the ball, good technique and some nice passing moves, with the intent of moving the opposition about. All of the people that I have interviewed over the last two days have gone to some lengths to emphasise the fairly high and improving standards within the league structure, as well as the top flight, which, especially considering this game, has something to it more than just workman’s pride. One thing that has struck me over this weekend is the general level of hockey intelligence from the players on the pitch, in terms of defensive positioning on and off the ball movement. HKFC equalise well into the second quarter, with a free flowing move and shortly after a controversial decision not to award them a penalty stroke. It’s exciting. In the fourth quarter SSSC take a 3 – 2 lead, after HKFC have missed a penalty that was given this time. It looks like the game is theirs, but with 39 seconds remaining, the HKFC team find a dramatic equaliser from a short corner. It has been a very entertaining game, played at a good tempo.

I’ve turned up today, partly to talk to some members of the Honk Kong Cricket Club (Hockey Section). As their club’s name suggests, they were not originally a hockey establishment and have only been fielding teams since 2006, after a number of the club members decided that they would also enjoy playing a bit of hockey. Genevieve (Gen) Rowe, the Head Coach, is here to tell me bit more about hockey in Hong Kong and has been joined by the Club Convenor Matthew Deayton and the Men’s First Team Captain, Dan Clarke.

Matthew Deayton, works in the I.T. industry; he is originally from Australia, moved to Hong Kong in 1975 and has been playing hockey locally since 1983, due to his family’s involvement in the game. Mother Deayton is still playing for HKFC Hockey in her 70’s. When Matthew started playing hockey, he says that there was very few people from Hong Kong or China who played the game and that it was predominately the ex-pats who participated. He reckons now, though, that over 50% of the leagues are made up of Hong Kong/Chinese teams and that the local community has really started to embrace the sport. He credits this to the HKHA and the development programmes that they have been putting in place in order to gain more of the local population. He explains to me that because hockey is played in both the Olympic and Asian Games that the sport gets a fair amount of recognition and that the Hong Kong Government, through the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) support hockey. In practical terms this means that there are several state run facilities, in Hong Kong, that also include hockey pitches, as well as some financial support towards the HKHA for them to run the league structure and national team programme. I’m told that the due to the lack of space in Hong Kong there is a fair amount of pressure of sports facilities due to demand for playing time. Regardless Matthew assures me that the standard of pitches are of a high standard and there are enough facilities to go around.

HKCC currently has three men’s teams and three women’s teams. The Men’s A team plays in the HKHA 1st Division (one below the Premier Division), whilst the women’s A team are in their respective top flight. Until recently HKCC ran four men’s teams, but dropped what was their first team from the Premier League, due to lower numbers. Apparently, the club was struggling to compete, with regards the recruitment of players at the top level, against other ex-pat clubs such as HKFC and Valley Rugby Football Club, so decided to scale down in order to consolidate. Matthew explains that their aim was always to remain a small knit recreational club, that aims to play within their ability, rather than being overtly big. Gen Rowe concurs with this, saying that the club look to create more of a family feel amongst their players, where everybody knows each other. One of the reasons why HKCC struggles with recruitment is the lack of their own hockey pitch (due to the size of Hong Kong, there can only be so many facilities). On paper this is their home game, but being played at the away team’s pitch, which seems to be a fairly common situation. Matthew does make an interesting point though, that the home and away advantage that is normalised in other parts of the world, isn’t as prevalent in Hong Kong, because everything is actually quite close to everything else and therefore teams are happy to play at a good facility such as it is at HKFC.

Dan Clarke, is from Guildford in England and like Matthew, also works in the IT industry, selling software. He hails from a cricket family, which is the reason why he originally joined the Cricket Club, but now captaining the men’s hockey team, and has been living in Hong Kong for seven years. He is eager to emphasis the improving quality of the league standard, telling me about the number of ex-pats coming over, who have played to varying levels of representative hockey from county up to junior international level, coming to play for various different clubs. Apparently, HKCC used to field the Hong Kong Men’s National Team captain. He tells me that there is an element of professionalism with the top flight, with a few players being paid to either play, or coach in some capacity, which is helping to improve the standard here.

He also makes a further point from what Lynsey Edgar of HKFC had told me earlier on, that there has been a decrease in the of ex-pat community in Hong Kong. He puts this down to a change in business and economy. Shenzhen, in mainland China is a fairly new city (roughly forty years old) and has taken on a lot of the technology and business industry jobs. Also, he reckons that a lot of foreigners are going to Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore in order to work at their company’s headquarters, instead of coming to Hong Kong. This, obviously, has the potential for long term consequences of hockey in the region. The implication of his point here is that clubs have a responsibility to increase the popularity and develop hockey amongst the local population and Dan emphasises the work that HKCC have been putting in place, with some success. A few products of the club’s youth system are working their way through the senior set up, which is a good sign for the future.

Gen Rowe hails from Johannesburg, South Africa and came to Hong Kong to take up the role of Head Hockey Coach of the HKCC, six years ago. Her job seems to keep her busy, as her remit includes everything from the men’s and women’s senior teams, down to the junior sections and community programmes. Gen, comes from a hockey family and has been playing for around twenty years. She is another person who emphases the improvement in the standard of hockey in Hong Kong, putting the standard of HKHA Premier League on a par with that of top flight in South Africa. Even as a club, the ladies A team are aiming to place their highest league position in their history. Gen puts an emphasis on getting the basics right, strong teamwork and enjoying the game, which seems to feed into the wider ethos of a social club atmosphere.

Having spoken to a number of different people involved in hockey in Hong Kong, there does seem to be quite a progressive attitude. People are friendly and willing to give their time freely to talk about hockey. There seems to be an attitude amongst all the clubs and up to the Hockey Association that they are all in it together and in order for one to improve that the others need to be brought along as well. Clubs, players, coaches and administrators seem open to new ideas, perhaps this is a symptom of the transient nature of the Hong Kong economy, and has had a positive effect of the recent developments in the sport of hockey. The future looks bright for the sport in this part of the world, although the national team may not be challenging for Olympic medals any time soon, the last one or two generations of players have overseen a period of improvement and stability for the next to improve upon. Watch this space…

]]>Hockey 2018http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/hockey-2018/
Sun, 30 Dec 2018 12:28:20 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2197What I’ve Seen in Twelve Months of Hockey Over the past year, we have had a lot of hockey mull over. Teams and players have made names for themselves, even causing the FiH and others to rethink a few things – world rankings for example. The Women’s World Cup inRead More →

Over the past year, we have had a lot of hockey mull over. Teams and players have made names for themselves, even causing the FiH and others to rethink a few things – world rankings for example. The Women’s World Cup in London was a particular delight, giving Irish sports fans something else to be noisy about. At this point in time, Perhaps most people have forgotten that we had pushed back at the start of the calendar with the Indoor World Cup, and I think that some things that have happened in the outdoor game can be traced to our small sided game. It has been an interesting twelve months of hockey in terms of tactics and changes in fandom. Here are some of my thoughts and observations of how things have gone.

Style of Play – Learnt from Indoor

A pass and move style of hockey is dominating International events. Teams are looking to exploit the spaces created by movements made by players off the ball and then using the pace of a pass to get in behind the defence and this is something that we can trace to indoor events. The national teams that can develop this style in the small sided version of the game and then take it to the larger 11-a-side game tend to dominate over sides that want to show off their individual attacking abilities. Germany and the Netherlands are experts at this and their dominance over indoor hockey in both the male and female categories has, surely, helped to develop their efficiency, precision and quickness in both technique and thought at the outdoor World Cups. The English on the other hand, who no longer compete at international level in the 6-a-side game have struggled to show a pass and move, space creating game, that can compete consistently at the sharp end of a World Cup, for both men and women, in a way to dominate an opponent.

One of the main criticisms of the English national sides has been a desire of individuals to ‘win it off their own stick’. This is something that can be improved upon from a technical point of view in hockey 6’s, without leading to over-reliance. Individual skills are honed at Indoor, but learning to do so at the right time and in the right place is essential and finding a balance between one and group is a big part of the game at elite level.

4 – 3 – 3 is King (or Queen in the Women’s Game)

The formation that is held most dear by hockey teams and coaches on the international stage right now seems to be to setting up with four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards. At the two outdoor World Cups we have seen this year, most teams set up with a variation of this formation.

Normally the sweeper plays behind three backs setting up with basically a one and a three. Depending on how defensive a midfield a team plays with (either two holding midfielders with one higher up the pitch, or one deeper and two higher) the backs playing in front of the sweeper have a number of variations to play with. With one sweeper three backs further forward and a holding midfielder, there are basically five defensive players over two lines in the defensive half, providing depth and width when bringing the ball out from the back. When going forward teams seem to enjoy playing with the three forwards playing very tightly together inside the opposition circle, looking to play off each other, find space for drag backs after drives along the baseline and deflections from crash balls at angles outside the circle. This means that width (in this formation) has to come from either left, or right full-back, or left or right half-back in central midfield – being allowed to advance forward by the holding midfielder. On paper this is a 4-3-3, but in practice a 5-5, or a 1-4-2-3

For me, I’d like to see some more variation. I have a suspicion that bulking out the midfield will have positive consequences for teams with a hard running midfield. We don’t need so many forwards, as long as the midfielders are fit enough to be involved in more than one phase of play – not a problem with today’s elite players, especially with the modern rolling substitutes rule allowing players to basically rest for half the game, sipping Gatorade. In a lot of game that I have seen there is a huge gap in the midfield, admittedly prompted by a lack of an offside, which moves defensive lines back to the circle. This, basically, means attacking teams can exploit the space by creating fast paced 1 vs. 1’s, or 2 vs. 1’s attacking overloads in the middle of the field. If an extra player is dropped back from the attack, defensive lines can push up higher to deal with this opposing attacking threat as well as create overloads themselves.

An Increase in Spectators and TV/Internet Coverage

Over the Women’s World Cup in London the number of spectators for women’s sport in the UK broke a new all time high record. According to BBC Sport ticket sales surpassed the previous record for the year to hit 682,000 and has reported a 38% growth since 2013, as stated by Sports Marketing Agency Two Circles. It came on the back of the English Football Association’s Women’s Super League, Women’s Cricket World Cup at Lord’s in 2017, as well as a women’s test series held at Twickenham. This is great news for British sport, as it means that there is an ever increasing variation for fans and participants to be involved in. Sport as a spectacle can easily become monotonous, or homogenous, but it’s good to see that the culture in the UK is starting to take a leaf out the books from North America and the Oceanic regions by including a variety of sports, instead of just Association Football, but in our own way. By making the spectacle of hockey an ever greater focal point in the mainstream media, our sport has a platform to increase the potential for financial income and promote participation at the grassroots level.

BT Sport seems keen to buy the ‘product’ of hockey and then sell it for advertising revenue. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as the job they do was as good as it was during the Women’s World Cup in London – personally, I think that the British broadcasters did a better job than that of the Indians during the Men’s World Cup. Where pay per view and terrestrial television and radio is dropping the ball, the internet is picking it up. YouTube and Facebook streams are using the democratic powers of the modern technologies available to us to show the world our magnificent sport. The only criticism of the internet feeds I can make is that it can put even the most avid hockey fan (of which there could be a lot more) into a stupor of boredom. The camera angles are often poor, making it difficult to follow the ball and therefore the action – I recently saw an Open Series game played in Lahore, where the cameraman found it difficult to keep the camera straight, let alone the ball inside the frame. Below the elite level FIH games, there is often no commentary and if there is, it’s not of a particularly entertaining, or enlightening standard. Surely, we can do better! Surely, we can make this more professional! This year, we have seen a surge in the popularity of podcasts and viewership of field hockey – check out Talk Hockey Radio and The Reverse Stick on either iTunes, or Spotify. The job of potential entrepreneurs now is to bring a sense of professionalism that has been lacking in the coverage of club hockey and the international game played below that of the World Cup. A multimedia platform product can be taken and sold to clubs, leagues and National Governing Bodies in order to promote hockey. This is the time to push on from the progress we have made so far. I think that there is money to be made here, barriers to be broken and frontiers to be explored, all of which can be good for hockey. Watch this space…

]]>Jazba Global Rattler Hockey Shoeshttp://www.thehockeyfamily.com/jazba-global-rattler-hockey-shoes/
Sun, 30 Dec 2018 09:40:02 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2190So I always like to hold onto shoes for a longer period for reviews, so that I can used them in as wide a range of weather and surface conditions as I can. So I have had these shoes for a long time and have used them in the bakingRead More →

So I always like to hold onto shoes for a longer period for reviews, so that I can used them in as wide a range of weather and surface conditions as I can. So I have had these shoes for a long time and have used them in the baking hot summer on dry sand and water based pitches, in the pouring rain and in frosty winter conditions.

Looks

So I ordered the Blue and Orange colour for these shoes as I thought that it was the most striking looking. I really like the design the white strips on the blue of the shoe with a striking orange logo and laces I think look really good along with the orange laces. Obviously everyone has their own op pinion on shoes, but they come in a range colours from plain black to bright green, so you can choose the style that you like most.

Comfort

These shoes are a wide fit, which is great if like me you have wide feet. At no point while wearing these shoes for several hours for coaching or game play did my feet ever feel like they were being squeezed, which is something I get from some narrower fitted shoes. Because these shoes were so comfortable they became my go too options for wearing to coaching as I would need to be on my feet for several hours plus also having to have a long drive as well, and I found that I didn’t need (or really want) to change into comfier shoes when coming off the pitch to drive home. The shoes also keep water out which helps to keep your feet dry on water based pitches but the shoes are also breathable so on hot days your feet don’t get too hot.

Weight

The shoes weigh in at 770g for a UK size 10.5 which is not a lot for a pair of shoes. They felt very light on my feet while I was running around, and never felt too bulky.

Protection

These shoes feature a slightly raised mid-sole so that the ball on the floor hits that and looses a lot of its energy before it hits your foot meaning that medium pace passes or hits are barely noticeable, the mid-sole also takes the majority of the hit from fast pace balls as well but you will definitely feel them. On the top there is a protective section that stops the ball from hitting the end of your toe, I assume this is really good for kicking as a goalkeeper but I can say that from experience. The white strips on the side of the shoe offer some protection as well for raised balls striking the side of your feet where it has missed the mid-sole but don’t expect this to be a painless experience.

Grip

The sole of the shoe is designed for multi-directional grip. This makes the shoes very good for changes of direction, for tight turns in the circle or a sharp change of direction to evade a defender. It’s also great for lateral push offs for dragflicking. I have worn these shoes on a range of different pitches and in different conditions and have found the grip to be excellent, there were a few slips when it got really icy and the pitch was freezing but I think that was to be expected of any shoe in that condition. The grip is also didn’t ware down too much in the couple months I was reviewing them.

Support

The shoes have a wide fit as I said earlier, so I rarely found my feet leaving the the sole of the shoes anyway, but the odd few time that it did my feet were restrained by the white strips on the outside of the shoe. This meant that my foot was always well supported and stopped me from rolling my ankle or any other injury that can occur if your foot keeps going after the shoes stops. The collar and lining are also thick and padded to help hold your foot in place at the top of the shoe.

Other

I did find that I needed to re lace the shoes as I felt the were initially too loose around the bridge of my foot. And since it’s the most common question I have been asked about shoes in the past, yes the insole is removable.

Summary

These are excellent shoes, I would probably put them at the top of the mid range or lower end of the top of the range shoe market. I do think you get a little bit more out of the top end shoes like the Gray’s AST or Adidas Lux which are slightly lighter and offer a little more grip and support, but when you take into account these shoes cost over £100 and the Jazba shoes RRP is £50 it shoes what amazing value for money they offer.

]]>Women’s hockey is evolving and the Champions Trophy was proof of ithttp://www.thehockeyfamily.com/womens-hockey-is-evolving-and-the-champions-trophy-was-proof-of-it/
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 09:20:20 +0000http://www.thehockeyfamily.com/?p=2164While we are in the middle of the Men’s Hockey World Cup, we make a parenthesis to analize briefly the Women’s Champions Trophy. FIH announced how the 2018 Champions Trophy was going to be the 23rd edition of the competition and the last of its kind. The Competition was originallyRead More →

While we are in the middle of the Men’s Hockey World Cup, we make a parenthesis to analize briefly the Women’s Champions Trophy. FIH announced how the 2018 Champions Trophy was going to be the 23rd edition of the competition and the last of its kind. The Competition was originally going to be played in Argentina but was moved to China due to contractual obligations the South-American country couldn’t fulfil.

Argentina’s Las Leonas went to the competition as defending champions and as the biggest winner in the competition but fell short to defend the title obtained in 2016 in London.

The Netherlands, the last champion

After a stellar performance from the Netherlands at the World Cup where they basically trashed everyone, we expected to see the same killer machine again.

The Netherlands obtained their 7th title, remaining undefeated, but the results and their game were not as impressive as it was in the World Cup.

True, there were many key players missing the likes of captain Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel, Marloes Keetels, Kelly Jonker, Kitty van Male, Frédérique Matla, Nonetheless the orange machine had enough to beat all their rivals, with an impressive 5-1 win over, No.3 in the world, Australia in the final.

It is important to remember that Australia was tied with six titles in The Champions Trophy along with the Netherlands. So, with the last result the Netherlands equals Argentina with seven and Australia staying at six.

How did las Leonas do?

Argentina had a frustrating tournament overall. The lack of effectiveness inside the D is showing and is bringing them many headaches.

Argentina showed they could construct team plays but the finish touch just wasn’t there. The defence also needs to adjust. It showed against the Netherlands and China.

Argentina dominated the game against the Europeans but three short corners later they were 0-3 down. Argentina’s lack of a good short corner is a big problem they have to find a solution to. And not just the execution but the defence of it. Against the Netherlands, Van Maasakker and Jansen, both sent the ball to the exact same place (to the first post) and las Leonas defence were unable to stop the three of them.

Against China, they didn’t suffer from their efficiency in the short corners. But while Argentina dominated the game, China scored two goals after a couple of penetrations in the D.

Lucina Von Der Heyde was the best players for the team, setting the times in attack and helping with the defence. Low key recognition to the young Agostina Alonso, the partner in the wing with Von Der Heyde in the midfield, recovering balls and helping to distribute the game.

Las Leonas collected their 7th title back in the Champions Trophy 2016, in London (photo: Getty Images)

Hockey is evolving

What can we say about the other teams? Well, we could see mixed results… not the usual ones. And I guess that was the beauty of the Champions Trophy: anyone can beat anyone.

China, the host and No. 10 in the ranking, beat Argentina 2-0, while Japan draw with Great Britain 2-2. Australia also draw with China and obtained another draw with Japan, No. 14 in the ranking.

As a result, we could see how teams are in transition right now. All them, except for the Netherlands, showed pretty much the same level of hockey and we couldn’t see the difference the ranking points out.

We have to remember, though, that we’re at the beggining of an Olympic cycle and it’s a little bit normal to see the teams without their usual precision and a game that isn’t as shiny as usually is. What is easily noticeable, though, is the fact that short corners will have to become a weapon as sharp as it is with the men’s hockey.

The importance of the short corner

The Netherlands showed clearly how, in a bad day, short corners can get you 3 points. Is not like that’s something we didn’t know but is something that at both, club and country, must have priority in training sessions and at camp next year when teams gather together again. The fact that we don’t see much effectiveness at such an important play in women’s hockey shows a serious lack of preparation from its roots. And maybe is because field plays were given more attention to in women’s hockey in the past, but now is time to stepped up with the men when we talk about short corners.

That will require sacrifice for sure. The shooter for such a play requires a different type of training, that leaves you very sore and it’s kind of lonely. But the rewards can be beyond messure.

The nation in women’s hockey, after the Netherlands, that dominates the short corner at the next tounament will have a place in the fight for medals, that’s for sure.

The Champions Trophy will be a beautiful part of hockey’s history. And when the next generations ask for it we will be able to tell them that there were 3 teams that dominated a beautiful tournament not even players want it to end. We will be able to say them too how amazing was to see them fight each other till the last drop of sweat to win the precious trophy.

We say good bye to the Champions Trophy (for now? we’re secretly hoping it will be back) but we welcome the future, the FIH Pro League has to offer.